Days 182 to 187: Villa la Angostura, ARG to El Calafate, ARG

Day 182: Villa la Angostura, ARG to Esquel, ARG (370 km)

An uneventful day of very fun riding, all on pavement. For most of the day, we drove on beautiful winding roads, with great scenery.

Late in the afternoon, things got much flatter and straighter. We were back into the steppes. This region of Patagonia is dreaded by motorcyclists because of very strong winds (we have seen a few warning signs), but we got lucky and experienced barely any wind at all.

We arrived to our destination, Esquel, at around 5 PM. It is a rather small town, but there are many lodging options, as it is a base camp to many excursions in the area. We found a nice hostel with secure parking for the bikes, although I haven't been really concerned at all about theft in Argentina or Chile. To me, these countries feel as safe as Canada, and definitely more than the USA.

A few words about lodging... Hotels are out of our budget in Argentina, but hostels run for about 10-12 USD per person for a bed in a dorm. The good thing for us is it is now the low season, and the hostels are mostly empty. Most of the time, we have the whole dorm to ourselves.

Day 183: Esquel, ARG to La Junta, CHL (390 km)


A short  45 km of pavement, and we were back on dirt roads for the remaining of the day. More great scenery on the way to the Chilean border.

That day, we were crossing back into Chile, in order to ride a section of the famous Carretera Austral (route CH-7). The construction of this road was commenced in 1976 under the de facto presidency of Augusto Pinochet, in order to connect a number of remote communities. It was opened to traffic in 1988, and officially completed in 1996 (Puerto Montt to Villa O'Higgins - 1240 km total).

More eye candy on the Chilean side.

We rode about 80 km, and then finally connected to the Carretera Austral. It is in pretty good shape, and we were able to cruise at 90 km/h, no problem. Unfortunately, the weather turned bad, and we rode under the rain for the remaining 2 hours of the day.

The last 20 km before La Junta, our destination for the day, we ran into construction work. They were blasting some rock, so we lost a good 40 minutes waiting until the workers cleared the road. It was raining, so it sucked.

We arrived in La Junta, and found a super shitty hotel room for 40 USD a night. It was a shit hole and really not worth what we paid for it, but we had no choice. Most of the hospedajes (small hotels) were full, as all the road construction crews were staying in town. Obviously, prices were over-inflated, but what can you do... We had absolutely no desire camping under the rain. Actually, it kept raining all night long, so we made the right decision. Nothing to do in this town, so it was movie night on the note book.

Day 184: La Junta, CHL to Perito Moreno, ARG (580 km)


Long day in the saddle. We left crappy La Junta, and continued South on the Carretera Austral. 

We rode along some fjords. On this one, you can see a fish farm.

About 100 km later, we were back on pavement. I'm guessing that 2-3 years from now, this road will be entirely paved, which will take some of the adventure flavor out of it.

Wet pavement, a diesel spill and sharp a sharp descending curve make a baaad combination. Mihai took that curve first, and I wasn't far behind. I saw him loose control of his bike, and a fraction of a second later I lost control of mine. As soon as I touched the brakes, both wheels locked up and I just kept going in a straight line. I went right through the opposite lane, and ran into the guard rail. Fortunately, the side case took most of the hit, or otherwise I would have a broken leg for sure. 

I looked down, and Mihai's bike was laying down right next to mine. For a second I was worried that I might have ran him over, but he got up right away and seemed fine. I did take a hit in the ribs (because of the guard rail), but was ok too.

First reaction: take pictures.

Then we did the damage assessment. Mihai and I were fine. Mihai's bike was ok too, other than a few more scrapes.

On my DR, the case that took the hit had cracked. The lid had broken off a few days ago, and now this. Fortunately  the other case is still intact, so I still have a dry and secure place for my note book and a few other delicate items.

Otherwise, a bent front blinker bracket and that's it.

Either the guard rails are kind of soft in Chile, or I need to take it easy on the ice cream...

All in all, we got lucky. I could have easily broken a leg, or worse if there was a vehicle in the opposite lane. Fortunately, not much traffic on that road.

It is now a tie between Mihai and I: we each have crashed once on and off road. 

Another thing worth mentioning... I always carry my camera in the left pocket of my riding jacket. It was the side that hit against the guard rail in the accident. I was also wearing my rain jacket on that day, to cut out the cold wind. On impact, I must have touched something sharp, as I ripped a hole in both the rain and riding jackets. I had a small calculator in the left pocket too, and it broke on impact. Luckily, and I don't know why, I had exceptionally put my camera in my right pocket at the last photo stop before the crash. Again... luck.

We continued on, enjoying more of the beautiful views on the Carretera Austral.

In the evening, we crossed back into Argentina. Only once we were done with the paperwork, we realized that we went to the wrong border crossing (bad GPS routing), which would cost us an additional 70 km on that day.

We found gasoline in a small village about 20 km from the border, and then decided to drive further and look for a spot to camp. We couldn't find anything suitable before it got dark, so we decided to push all the way to Perito Moreno, which was a 140 km from there. The next 60 km were tough, as we rode on very loose gravel in the dark. A few butt clenching situations later, we hit brand new pavement. The last 80 km were smooth sailing at 130 km/h. We got to Perito Moreno passed 10 PM, and had trouble finding lodging. Everything was either full or too expensive. We ended up finding a very shitty hostel. It cost us 12 USD each for a bed in a dorm. The place had ''no smoking'' signs, but the front desk chick was chain smoking and the whole place stank...lol.


Day 185: Perito Moreno, ARG to El Calafate, ARG (690 km)


Another very long day in the saddle. We took off from Perito Moreno, and started the day with a 120 km of smooth pavement. At 130 km/h, we made good progress in the morning.

Eventually, we hit some sections where the road was closed to traffic.

However, the pavement seemed all done and it was Saturday, so we decided to skip the deviation and to force our way through.

Here, Mihai lacked a bit of momentum... Again, first thing to do when one of us screws up is to take a picture, haha.

More of flatness and straightness for a good part of the afternoon.

At times, I was a little bored, so I started messing with the camera on the fly.

Not much traffic on that section of the Ruta 40.

 

We ran into some wildlife. Lots of lamas, and we have also seen ostriches. However, these birds are very nervous and run all over the place, so they are difficult to photograph. Actually, I didn't even know that there were ostriches in this part of the World!

Saw this on the side of the road... It was used as an advertisement item for some hostel or restaurant in the middle of nowhere. Pretty cool, nevertheless.

Right before sunset, we ran into a nice view of the glaciers, which we will be checking out from closer in a day or two.

We arrived to our destination, El Calafate, around 9 PM. It had been a long day... close to 700 km of 70% asphalt and 30% dirt. From El Calafate, we will do a day trip to the Perito Moreno glacier. Then, it's only about 700 km to Ushuaia... The end is near.


Day 186: El Calafate, ARG (0 km)

Lazy day. We got into town too late on the previous night to book a tour to the Perito Moreno glacier, so we took the day to relax and to catch up on emails, blog and Skype calls to family.

Day 187: El Calafate - Excursion to the Perito Moreno glacier ( 0 km)

We took a day tour to the Perito Moreno glacier, which is located about 80 km from El Calafate. This and the salar de Uyuni are the most impressive places I've seen so far in South America.

The Perito Moreno Glacier is one of only three Patagonian glaciers that is growing. The reason remains debated by glaciologists. The terminus of the Perito Moreno Glacier is 5 kilometers (3 mi) wide, with an average height of 74 m (240 ft) above the surface of the water of Lake Argentino, in Argentina. It has a total ice depth of 170 meters (558 ft).

Once we arrived by bus into the national park, we took a 15 minute boat ride to the glacier. 

Once there, we were supplied with a pair of crampons, and then climbed the glacier for about 1.5 hours.

Towards the end of the walk on the glacier, the tour guides served us a shot of scotch on the glacier's ice. Pretty cool.

Picture of an iceberg, taken on the boat on the way back from the glacier.

The best photo of the day, I think, from the view point closest to the glacier's front.

What was very impressive too, is that huge chunks of ice would brake off the glacier every once in a while, and fall into the water. The noise that resulted from this reminded me of rock blasting on mining and road construction sites.

In the parking lot, we saw this Harley with a Czech plate. It was covered in stickers from all over Europe and the Americas.

The next update will be in a few days from Punta Arenas in Chile, where I will looking to sell my bike. Stay tuned.

Days 178 to 181: Mendoza, ARG to Villa la Angostura, ARG

Day 178: Mendoza to ....camping in the middle of nowhere ( 300 km)

Mihai had a bit of a slow morning after a night out with two Chileans from our hostel. We also had to pick up motor oil and a chain and sprocket for Mihai's bike at the local Suzuki dealership, so we ended up leaving Mendoza only around 1:30 PM.

While gassing up on the outskirts of the town, I saw this beauty. It's an old Fiat 125. This car brings back memories, as my family used to own one of these back in the days, when we lived in Algeria.

The first 120 km were all highway - easy cruising with a beautiful view of snow capped mountains.

Last gas stop, and we veered off on the famous Ruta 40. The ride was kind of crap at first, as the dirt road was wash boarded and there was quite a bit of loose sand and gravel; not a good combination.

Eventually, both the road and the scenery improved, and we did some great riding for a few hours. Very little traffic on this section of the Ruta 40; we ran into one vehicle in 150+ kms.

After 5 PM, we began looking for a spot to camp. Eventually, we ran into a small abandoned oil refinery. Perfect! We put up our tents inside of a house that is part of the complex, so we were shielded from wind. Even more conveniently, there was a fire place in the living room, and plenty of dry wood laying around inside of the house.

Awesome camp fire, dinner of noodles and tuna, and we were off to bed. 

The temperature was fine at first, but sometime in the middle of the night it got really cold. Neither of us slept well.

We haven't seen or heard a single vehicle pass by since the previous day, so in over 14 hours or so. Definitely not a place where you'd want to break down or crash, as help won't be coming your way anytime soon.

Day 179: Camping in the middle of nowhere to Chos Malal (440 km)

We woke up tired, packed our stuff and took off around 10:30 am. I snapped a few pics of our awesome camping spot.

Just as the day before, the weather was close to perfect. We ran into a small oil field:

 First forest in a while. It is obviously autumn in this part of the World.

As we were about to roll into the town of Malargue, Mihai's front tire went flat. Ironic, considering that earlier in the day I actually thought that we have been lucky so far in not having any punctures since leaving Montreal. I guess I jinxed it. Fortunately, we were only 1 km away from a gas station, where Mihai was able to replace the tube (we both have spares). 45 mins. later, we were rolling again. We had lunch in Malargue, and left the city around 2 PM.

That day, my odometer rolled over to 50 000 km. It's been 30 000 km since leaving home, and still counting...

Good high speed pavement for the rest of the day, with a few short sections of gravel. We were able to maintain a good average speed, and covered a decent 440 km. Not bad considering the late start in the morning, and the time wasted to fix the flat on Mihai's bike.

We rode into Chos Malal when it was already getting dark, and we managed to score a cheap hotel for the night (180 pesos, or around 22 USD for the room).

Day 180: Chos Malal to Villa La Angostura (600 km)

Long day in the saddle. A lot of this:

The riding wasn't very exciting, but we were able to cruise at 120 km/h for most of the day and made some good time. Considering how much distance we still have left until Ushuaia, this was definitely a good thing.

Late in the afternoon, the scenery started to get interesting.

For the last 200 km of the day, the scenery changed completely. We were now surrounded by mountains, forest and lakes. This is the part of Patagonia that so many people are raving about, and with reason.

We drove though San Martin de las Andes, a touristic but very nice small town. The architecture in this place reminded me a lot of Austria and Germany.

We arrived to our planned destination, Villa la Angostura, around 8:30 PM, and quickly found a hostel. There was plenty of camping spots between San Martin and Villa la Angostura,but we decided to pass: it got cold at night, and we needed to get some maintenance done on the bikes, which is always preferable to do in a town.



Day 181: Villa La Angostura

Day off to fix a few things on the bikes. We both need an oil change, Mihai wants to repair his heated grips and vest, and to replace his rear brake pads. In the process, we discover that his rear wheel is a little loose: the wheel bearings are worn out and need to be replaced. Mihai had spares, so he decided to tackle the job. We drove around the village and looked for a shop with a hydraulic press, but no success. We ended up completing the installation using whatever tools we had, as well as the old bearings as drivers. It took a while, but worked out ok.

Next, I checked my own rear wheel, and I noticed the same problem. Not a surprise considering how much abuse the bikes have been through on different off road sections on this trip. However, I only had the sprocket carrier bearing in my spares, and none for the wheel, so I decided to leave it alone for now. It's not a critical situation, so I should be ok for the remaining 3 weeks of riding. I will, however, pick up the missing bearings in the next larger town we go through. Just in case... We will be driving through some pretty remote areas on our way to Ushuaia.

Working on the bikes in the yard of our hostel:

Meanwhile, this guy was just laying there for hours in the sun. What a lazy bum. 

We ended up skipping the oil change for now, as we wanted to take the remaining of the afternoon to walk around the town and the surroundings. The architecture is  also very ''alpine'' here. Lots of cool buildings and chalets.

We walked 3 km to this lake. Another scenic spot, which reminds me of Canada and parts of Europe.

Another day or two in Argentina, and we're crossing back into Chile again, to ride the famous Carretera Austral. We're going to have to rush a little, as I am hoping to reach Ushuaia and sell my bike in Punta Arenas before the end of April.